A New Threat
by Omixgirl10
Summary: Under pressure from a string of mysterious attacks on shinobi and civilians alike, Konoha and Akatsuki are forced to form an unlikely alliance, and Sakura finds herself developing an odd fascination with a certain S-Class missing nin. DeiSaku.
1. Introduction

"Move it! Out of the way!"

Hospital workers scrambled out of the way as they recognized the Hokage, rushing down the halls of Konoha hospital, alternating between yelling for people to move and turning to speak urgently to the tall, silver-haired man behind her, recognized by some as Hatake Kakashi.

A few people muttered to each other, leaning over to see who could be on the gurney being rushed through the hospital, what injury could cause this much commotion. Others started, but were then distracted by the sight of the black-haired, masked man trailing along behind the small group – or, more accurately, were distracted by the familiar, black-and-red pattern of his clothing.

"So, now what?" Kakashi said to the Hokage, too quietly for the bystanders to hear.

Tsunade continued to stare straight ahead, glancing every once in awhile at the man on the gurney beside her, being rolled by hospital workers. "We figure out what's going on," she replied. "Then we do something about it." She glanced at Kakashi for a moment, adding, "And whatever we do, we need to do it fast. This situation could be worse than we thought."

Suddenly, the Hokage stopped, turning to face the silver-haired jonin. His one visible eye blinked in surprise at the sudden stop.

"Kakashi," she said, her voice commanding. Immediately, Kakashi straightened, prepared to receive orders.

Looking her subordinate directly in the eye, Tsunade told him, "Go get the rest of Team Kakashi. They need to know about this."

"What's going on, Grandma?" asked Naruto, glancing around the room, clearly uncertain of why they would be being informed of a new mission in Konoha hospital.

Although Sakura shared his confusion, she couldn't help tensing slightly at the way he referred to Tsunade. She was the Hokage, for goodness' sake! Couldn't he show a little respect?

Luckily for Naruto, Tsunade didn't seem to mind. "I am aware that this isn't normally where your missions are given," she began. "But this is something of a special case. First off, I'm guessing you've heard of the recent attacks on civilians and shinobi alike."

Sakura nodded, glancing on either side of her and noting her teammates' confused expressions – well, except for Sai, who had the same blank stare as usual. _What was this all about?_

"Although we've been unable to figure out who has been doing this," Tsunade continued, "We have narrowed down the possibilities a bit. We know that, chances are, it isn't Akatsuki."

Before Sakura could say a word, Yamato voiced the exact question she had had. "Not to be disrespectful, Tsunade-sama," he started, "But how can you know that?"

Just as Tsunade opened her mouth to reply, a deep, but still young-sounding, voice – a voice that seemed as if Sakura had heard it somewhere before – answered: "Because we've been attacked, too."

Kind of short, but they seem to be getting longer as I write. :P Anyway, reviews would be appreciated!


	2. Unexpected Visitor

_No way!_ Upon recognizing the voice, Sakura spun to face the newcomer, fully prepared to fight.

Standing in the doorway was a young man, one blue eye peering at the Konoha ninja, the other covered by his long, straight blonde hair. His forehead was covered by a metal forehead protector with the symbol of Iwagakure carved into it, and then slashed through. The man was leaning casually against the doorway, smirking.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. She definitely knew this man – the Akatsuki member who had defeated Gaara, and, consequently, caused the Sunagakure elder Chiyo's death.

Sakura was about to demand of the man why he was there when Tsunade beat her to it – but not exactly in the way Sakura had expected.

"What are you doing out here?" Tsunade demanded. "You're not to leave until you've given us the details of what happened – not to mention the fact that you're not in any shape to be walking around like this, anyway!"

_What?_ Sakura's frown deepened in confusion. Then she turned to face the Akatsuki member, and started to notice what Tsunade was talking about.

For one thing, he was leaning more heavily against the doorway than Sakura had originally thought; in fact, he seemed to be putting most of his weight on the doorframe, rather than on his own legs. Upon closer inspection, his confident expression seemed somewhat forced, as if he were trying to hide his own discomfort.

So he was injured, then. But what was he doing in Konoha?

Sakura turned to Tsunade. "Tsunade-shishou, excuse me, but... what is an Akatsuki member doing here?"

Tsunade sighed, running a hand through her hair. "It's probably a long story. However, since he has yet to tell us what exactly happened, and since he can't exactly leave right now, he's staying here."

The blonde criminal – she never did hear his name, at least, not enough to remember it now – scowled. "I can leave any time I-"

Suddenly, he was cut off by a shrill scream: "SEEENNPAAAIII!"

All heads in the room turned toward the doorway as another Akatsuki member, this one wearing a bright orange mask, sprinted down the hallway, _past _the door, then spun around and stumbled back to the doorway, panting. "S-sorry, Tsunade-sama! Sorry! I tried to get him not to leave and he said he wouldn't but then when I wasn't looking he snuck out and I didn't know he was gone but then I did so I came as fast as I could and I'm so sorry!"

As the man stopped for breath, Sakura turned to Tsunade, a question look in her eyes.

The Hokage shrugged. "He's been like this the entire time they've been here. I really can't say why for sure."

"Er... I don't mean to interrupt, but I think we need to get to the topic at hand," Yamato pointed out. "Why are they even here?"

Tsunade sighed with frustration. "Just a second," she replied. "We'll talk in a moment. In the meantime..." She stood up and walked over to the Akatsuki member, the combination of her low heels and his somewhat slouched posture making her appear a few centimeters taller than him. He stared up at her defiantly, as if daring her to try to tell him what to do.

However, she seemed to have realized by now that this man could not be ordered to do anything he didn't want to do, and instead took the route of giving him a swift – and, Sakura knew, relatively light – punch to the stomach, stunning him long enough for her to simply pick him up and carry him back to his room.

Uncertain of what else to do, the six ninja left in the room followed them, a couple of them exchanging curious glances. Sakura examined Kakashi's face for any hint of what was going on, but, as expected, his one visible eye didn't give many clues.

When they entered the hospital room, the Akatsuki member was gasping out complaints to Tsunade's treatment of him.

"What, are you trying to heal me, or finish me off, hm?" he snapped. "Who the hell punches an already-injured man in the stomach?"

Tsunade scowled at him. "I only hit you hard enough to get you to hold still. If you had just gone back here when I told you two, we wouldn't even have this problem."

"Yeah, well, you didn't have to _hit _me," griped the blonde man.

"Now, more important than this little _incident_," Tsunade said, glancing at the others in the room, "I think it's about time you explained to these people what happened to you."

The criminal sighed irritably. "Fine," he agreed. "But I honestly don't see who it will help, hm."

And so he explained.

Actual explanation comes... next chapter! A bit longer this time. Review, please!


	3. Deidara Explains

"Hey, Deidara-senpai? I'm tired, senpai. Can we stop yet? We've been walking for a really long time, Deidara-senpai. Hey, senpai..."

This was the constant babbling that had been going on for something like ten minutes now. Deidara glanced at Tobi, suppressing the urge to reach into the pouch of clay at his side.

As annoying as his partner was, Deidara knew that they _had_ been walking for a long time; even he was starting to get tired. However, just before he was about to tell Tobi that yes, they could rest, if Tobi would just _shut up_, he realized that the closest person to them was closer than they had thought.

Standing only a few yards away, mostly obscured by the clouds of dust blown by the dry wind, was a human figure. A human figure who was walking toward them.

Deidara shifted his stance slightly, uncertain of the figure's intentions. Soon, the entity was close enough for Deidara to be able to make out some features.

The person approaching them was a man, probably in his early-to-mid thirties. He was pretty tall, and was wearing a heavy-looking cloak despite the hot weather. Chin-length tan hair hung around his face, not quite obscuring his glaring slate-gray eyes, or the scar running from just over his left eye to the bridge of his nose.

The man continued walking forward, stopping only when he was right in front of Deidara. By this time, Deidara had discreetly grabbed a handful of clay from his pouch, just in case the stranger was hostile.

"Well?" questioned Deidara. "What do you want, hm?"

Deidara couldn't understand the man's reply, as it was in an unfamiliar language. He shrugged, starting to walk past. "Sorry, I don't know... whatever that was," he said, pointing at his ear and shaking his head. "Come on, Tobi."

However, before Deidara could get all the way past, the man spun around, grabbing his shoulder and snarling the same question from earlier.

Deidara glared at the apparently irritable stranger. "Hey, in case you have trouble with basic politeness..." he growled, tensing, "_Let me go!_" He jerked away from the man, spinning to face him and throwing a couple small bombs at him – not strong ones, just enough to scare him off.

The man's eyes widened at the sight of the bombs; even if he didn't know what they were, he could tell they were dangerous. He dodged to the side, using one arm to shield his face from the small blasts. As soon as the smoke cleared, he slowly turned to Deidara, a fury showing in his eyes beyond the previous iciness.

The man – by this time it was clear he was some form of warrior – threw aside one side of his cloak, and drew the heavy sword it had concealed. He looked Deidara straight in the eye, and hissed something that sounded an awful lot like a challenge.

Deidara grinned, reaching into his bag of clay again. "Tobi," he said, without turning to look at his now-somewhat-panicked partner, "Stay out of my way."

Some actual action coming up. Next chapter is quite a bit longer, I promise. So read and review!


	4. The Swordsman

For a moment, Deidara and the swordsman both stood perfectly still, each taking some time the size the other up. Deidara could see, from the man's stance and the look in his eyes, that he was quite experienced in battle; judging from his build, he was probably strong, too. Not to mention the sword...

Deidara's grin became a smirk. He knew how to deal with this guy now. He wasn't someone to try to fight at close range, that was for sure; that would be sure to fail. But Deidara preferred long-range attacks anyway. This should be over fast.

Deidara's opponent seemed to notice the change in the ninja's attitude. He growled something in his odd language, and charged.

Deidara sidestepped the first attack easily. The man was fast, but not fast enough, it seemed. Then, suddenly, he pressed one foot hard against the ground, spinning to swing his sword again. Once again, Deidara avoided the attack, but this time it was by a much smaller margin. _So,_ thought Deidara, _looks like I was right about getting farther away from him. _Now it was his turn.

Leaping away from his enemy, Deidara pulled a pre-prepared bird from his bag, throwing it in front of him. The foreigner stared in confusion as, in a puff of smoke, the tiny clay model transformed into a huge bird, big enough to ride on.

Jumping onto the bird's back, Deidara gloated at the surprise on the man's face. "Yeah, that's right, hm," he called, although he knew the man couldn't understand him. "Now that sword of yours can't reach me anyway!"

With a couple flaps, the bird was airborne. Now safely out of reach, the young Akatsuki member pulled a handful of clay into the mouth on his had, preferring to save the prepared bombs for emergencies. Meanwhile, the swordsman's shock had turned back to fury, and he shouted something up to Deidara, placing his free hand against the blunt side of the his sword.

Deidara calmly checked the progress of the clay in his hand. _It shouldn't be long now,_ he thought. All the same, something about the stranger's tone bothered him. Although he was clearly frustrated, there was something else there... a sort of confidence, like he had something else planned...

Deidara shook his head. Whatever it was, he would be ready; there was no point in worrying about it. Not to mention the fact that the clay was finally ready.

The swordsman on the ground kept staring up at Deidara as the ninja swiftly shaped the clay in his hands. Meanwhile, the stranger kept one hand on the blade of his sword, mumbling under his breath. _What's he talking about? _thought Deidara. _Weird._ But now Deidara had something more important to focus on than his opponent's habits.

Deidara lifted the bird-shaped bomb in his hand, keeping an eye on the swordsman. Finally, it was ready. He grinned and let the bird hop from his hand, flapping its wings and shooting for the target.

The swordsman's eyes widened in alarm, and he leapt out of the way of the bomb... only to be blocked off by two other birds that Deidara had discreetly released at the same time as the first. Deidara lifted his hands to for the handsigns, and...

"Katsu!"

All three bombs went off at once, three rapidly expanding fireballs, with Deidara's opponent in the middle.

The bomber's eyes narrowed, checking the ground for signs of life. He knew the bombs had hit, but he wasn't sure that they had killed the stranger. _Apparently not,_ he thought, as the man stumbled out of the cloud of smoke left by the explosions. He had certainly been affected by the explosion, but it seemed he had used his thick cloak as sort of a shield, leaving him mostly uninjured.

Deidara crouched on his bird, watching his opponent to see what he would do next. As he watched, the man lifted his sword, his hand still on the blade, and glared up at Deidara. Then he swung the sword.

For an instant, Deidara scoffed at this attempt, guessing that the sword was going to release a blade of air, or a fireball – a basic attack, meant for opponents who weren't expecting the user to have any long-range attacks. But instead, the sword did something very different.

As it was swung, the metal blade seemed to split apart, forming a spray of tiny needles. Deidara's eyes widened in alarm; this would be far harder to dodge than he had expected.

Deidara readied himself, using what little time he had to check the pattern of the needles, looking for whatever spaces he could use to avoid them. When the attack reached him Deidara dodged as best he could, weaving between the needles and managing to avoid most of them. But a few managed to hit; a couple needles managed to stick in his arm, another in one leg, and once skimmed by his neck – it left a somewhat worrying cut, but it was certainly better than what would have happened if he hadn't dodged as well as he had.

Of course, the needles weren't done – a moment later, they pulled back toward the sword they came from, but by now Deidara had managed to move the bird out of the way.

The blonde Akatsuki member glared down at his opponent, who was as close as he ever seemed to get to smirking. _Bastard..._ Then he realized that he was about to have another problem.

The swordsman sprinted toward the bird, once again lifting his sword. He yelled something out at Deidara, and, with two swings of his sword, released two smaller, curved steel blades. Unlike the needles, these appeared to be guided, homing in on Deidara. At the last moment, Deidara jumped from the bird, aiming for a nearby tree. He threw a couple of clay spiders at the swordsman, who was now occupied preparing to recapture the two blades – apparently, that had to be done manually; a definite downside to the attack.

Too late, the swordsman saw the bombs, his eyes widening in alarm just before they detonated. Deidara watched carefully, predicting that, once again, the man would survive. He was right, but it was closer this time; Deidara may not have been in too good of shape at this point, but neither was his opponent.

Deidara dropped from the tree, and the two men faced each other silently. Both new that it would be best to get this over with quickly. The swordsman started to lift his sword... then a giant, white centipede burst from the ground, winding around his legs. The man attempted to pull free, the soft clay tearing easily as he pulled against it, but a few shreds remained stuck to his legs.

Deidara smirked, lifting one hand. "Katsu."

The swordsman cried out in pain, staggering forward a few steps before falling to his knees, his sword slipping from his hand. Deidara walked forward confidently, carefully molding one last bomb in his hand. "You should be grateful," he informed his opponent. "Your death will be a true work of-"

Suddenly, he was cut off as the man staggered to his feet and snatched up his sword, a new hatred burning in his eyes. He snarled a few words at Deidara, and, the impediment caused by his injuries made up for by the short distance between them, charged.

Deidara leapt backward as his opponent attacked, flinching as the steel cut a shallow gash into his chest. He threw a bomb back in retaliation, although he knew the swordsman would probably avoid the brunt of the explosion.

"Deidara-senpai!" yelped Tobi, starting toward his partner. Deidara held up one hand, signaling Tobi to stop without taking his eyes off his opponent. They held each other's gazes for several seconds, each sending the other a clear message: _Don't assume you can win._

Finally, the swordsman turned away, spitting a few words at Deidara that most likely stated that he didn't think he really _needed_ to finish him off anyway, considering Deidara's current condition. Then he limped away, leaving Deidara and Tobi in the road. Tobi started toward him for a moment, then stopped, turning back to Deidara worriedly.

_Speaking of my condition..._ Deidara thought, leaning against a nearby tree. Blood still flowed freely from his various cuts, although it seemed as if it should have at least slowed down by now. _Damn it... he must have prevented clotting somehow,_ thought Deidara, as Tobi rushed toward him, crying out his name.

"And that's all I remember," finished Deidara, having recapped his battle against the mysterious swordsman. Actually, his statement wasn't quite accurate; he remembered the battle in far greater detail than he let on. He figured that, really, there was no need to act as if he were writing a novel here. Not to mention, considering his failure to defeat this particular opponent, he'd rather not dwell on this for too long.

"Thank you, that should be helpful," replied the Hokage, although Deidara got the distinct feeling that she was less-than-happy to have to thank an Akatsuki member for anything.

"What will we do?" asked the pink-haired girl – what was her name again? It seemed like he should remember, seeing as how she had been part of the team that had killed Sasori, and gotten Deidara stuck with Tobi. Either way, he didn't see how her name mattered. All he had to do was break out of there, and, with any luck, he would never see her again.

The Hokage smiled just a bit, as if she was glad to have a plan, but not too pleased about what it entailed. "I have an idea. In the meantime..." She turned to Deidara. "You will stay in this room until I say otherwise, understood?"

"Yeah, whatever, hm," muttered Deidara, intentionally looking away. He hid a smirk as the pink-haired girl started toward him.

"Hey, do you have any idea who you're talking to, you-" The Hokage put one arm in front of her, stopping her.

"Not now, Sakura," she warned the girl. "We've got a bigger problem right now than him. And I don't want any fighting in here until we've got this worked out."

By far the longest chapter so far. Anyway, hope you liked the action sequence! By the way, if there isn't now, there shall soon be a link in my profile to a picture of the swordsman. Read and review!


	5. An Unlikely Solution

Luckily, it was only a few minutes of Sakura and Naruto sitting and trying to stare down two Akatsuki members (Yamato and Sai refused to help, and Kakashi left to talk to Tsunade) before the Hokage came to a conclusion. Unluckily, it was not a conclusion that most people wanted to hear.

"We will form an alliance with the Akatsuki."

All at once, Sakura's mouth dropped open in shock, Naruto and Deidara began to protest (loudly), and Tobi, to be honest, seemed rather pleased with the idea.

Naruto was the first to make his objections into actual words. "But... Grandma Tsunade, there's no way we can afford to work with this guy!" He pointed accusingly at Deidara, scowling. "He killed Gaara, remember? We can't trust him, and I sure can't work with him!"

Deidara glared at him in response. "For once, the nine-tails brat's right, hm. An alliance between us would be impossible; Leader-sama would never agree to it."

Tsunade nodded. "I'm aware that it is dangerous," she said to Naruto, and then, to Deidara, "and unlikely. But this is an emergency. Whoever this is, he is dangerous, uses no jutsu that anyone recognizes, and has now attacked both Konoha and the Akatsuki – making him our mutual enemy."

"But... Naruto does have a point, Tsunade-shishou," insisted Sakura. "The Akatsuki can't be trusted; if we try to work with this guy-"

"He could turn on us at any moment, I know," interrupted Tsunade. "We just don't have a choice at this point."

Naruto seemed to be ready to argue again, but a glance from Sakura stopped him. "Fine," he muttered. "I've got my eye on you," he added, glaring at Deidara, who just snorted slightly and looked away.

"Alright, I'll contact Leader-sama. But don't expect him to agree," he replied grudgingly.

Tsunade, with a last glance at the Akatsuki members, turned to leave, motioning for Sakura, Naruto, Sai, and Yamato to follow. Kakashi stayed just outside the door, ready to prevent any escape attempts.

Once the Konoha ninja were gone, Tobi turned to Deidara. "Are you really going to ask him, Deidara-sempai?"

Deidara glanced at the door, then turned to Tobi. "Of course not, idiot," he hissed.

Tobi blinked in confusion. "But you said-" At Deidara's glare, his voice dropped to a whisper. "But you said you would talk to Leader-sama, didn't you?"

Deidara grinned, leaning back on the pillow. "And when I said that, I was lying," he stated matter-of-factly. "Look, we can't run the risk of Leader-sama making us work with them, can we?"

"W-well, I guess not, but..." He turned to look at the door. "They have someone listening in on us; they'll know if you don't talk to Leader-sama."

"No, they won't, hm. It's easy enough; all I've got to do is pretend to ask him, and act like he said no. Simple as that."

"But-" Before Tobi could finish protesting, he and Deidara suddenly each felt sort of a tug at the back of their minds.

_We need to talk,_ a deep voice sounded in their heads.

Deidara's surprise at the sudden order was quickly replaced by irritation. "Of course, Leader-sama," he muttered. "We were... just planning to talk to you." There went his perfect plan.

With a sigh, he allowed the tug of his leader's mind on his own to pull a large part of his consiousness to the new meeting place – a small, underground cave that they had been keeping in reserve. Until, that is, the old hag and the pink-haired girl destroyed their main meeting place.

Around him, images of the other members flickered into existence on the stone fingers of the statue. As soon as everyone was there, the leader spoke.

_"I have been informed, Deidara, that you and Tobi were attacked,"_ he stated.

Before Deidara could respond, Hidan's voice called out, _"Yeah, so what? We're Akatsuki, we get attacked all the f*cking time!"_

_ "This was not a typical assailant," _replied Leader. _"There have been reports of this man attacking and threatening people across a fairly large area, and his jutsu are not recognizable by anyone so far."_

"Sounds about right," confirmed Deidara. "We're fine, though, so-"

_"What do you mean we're fine, Deidara-sempai? Aren't you going to tell him about how-"_

"Tobi, it's _nothing,_" Deidara snapped back. "We don't need to _trouble_ Leader-sama with trivial stuff like that, _do we?_" At this point, he was still clinging to the faintest chance of getting away without having to make relay the dreaded proposition; as unlikely as it was that Leader would agree to it, there was still the possibility.

Of course, Tobi felt the need to ruin Deidara's attempts at secrecy. _"But it's _not _trivial! Deidara-sempai, you're in the hospital! That's not trivial at all!"_

Deidara stiffened as Leader looked at him questioningly and both Hidan and Kisame started to laugh. _"Is this true, Deidara?"_

"Er..." Deidara shot a glare at Tobi. _You idiot..._ "Yes, sir. It's really not necessary, though, I should be fine in a few-"

_"A _hospital? _Seriously? What the f*ck _happened _to you?" _Hidan demanded through his laughter.

Deidara curled his lip in irritation and turned to Leader. "There's a bit more," he said hesitantly, all chances of avoiding bringing this up gone. "You see, we ended up at the hospital in Konohagakure," he explained. At this, all laughter and whispering ceased instantly, replace with a shocked silence.

Deidara continued, a bit more nervously now. "The Hokage has found out what happened, and, as Konoha's shinobi have been attacked as well..." He swallowed before giving the last (and worst) bit of information. "She has proposed an... alliance between Konoha and the Akatsuki."

The cave erupted with objections. _"That's impossible!" _snapped Hidan. _"There is no way that could ever work! Is that b*tch completely f*cking insane?"_

_ "I know Konoha's known for being too trusting, but man..." _Kisame added, shaking his head almost pityingly. _"Do they have a death wish now?"_

Deidara suppressed a grin. _Perfect! If they keep this up, there's no way he can agree to it!_

_ "It is certainly unlikely..." _agreed Leader. Deidara listened eagerly...

_"But it's not impossible. A temporary alliance could be valuable in defeating this new enemy, and we may be able to gather valuable intelligence along the way. Tell the Hokage that we will cooperate – for now."_

Deidara's jaw dropped. But there was nothing much he could do to change the leader's decision, and he knew full well the consequences that would follow if he went against his orders. He gritted his teeth and glared at the ground. "Yes, sir," he muttered.

Leader nodded. _"That is all. All of you, get back to your missions. Dismissed."_

_About 15 minutes ago..._

A tall man limped through the forest, clutching one arm. Finally, he reached a tall cliff, an opening in the side disguised by a slab of stone. He stopped in front of the opening, banging a fist against the "door".

"Hey, open up!" he called into the cave. There was no response for a moment. "Open the damn cave, you bastards! I'm not standing out here forever!"

Finally, the door was hauled aside, revealing a sturdily-built man with blond hair and a small beard. Upon seeing the swordsman, his eyes widened in alarm. "Wha- Uraccion, what did you _do?_"

The swordsman scowled, shoving past the blonde man and into the cave. "Shut up. It was a couple of those warriors we've been finding; some blonde brat and a guy in a mask."

The other individuals in the cave – a dark-skinned man with short black hair and a woman with a seemingly permanent look of apathy – looked up as the two walked in.

"So, who attacked first this time?" the woman asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The blonde kid," snapped Uraccion. "And you make it sound like all these fights have been _my _fault."

"Technically, they have," pointed out the black-haired man. "If you hadn't attacked the first group, we wouldn't be in hiding right now. Hell, we might even have found a way to get home. But as it is, everyone here thinks of us as criminals, we still don't know where we are, not even Aaronol can figure out the language the natives are speaking, and Uraccion keeps attacking more people! Which, by the way, just makes the situation _worse._"

Before Uraccion could respond, the blonde man, Aaronol, interrupted. "Look, fighting among ourselves isn't helping anyone. I think I've almost got a translation spell that will let us talk to these people, and then we should be able to start finding a way home."

The woman nodded. "Forrin, heal Uraccion," she told the black-haired man. "We can't afford to be weakened in any way right now. And we're _not _letting Uraccion outside on his own anymore."

-Quick note on name pronunciations: Uraccion = ooh-RAH-chee-ohn Aaronol = AY-ruh-nole, Forrin = FOH-rin Yeah, out-of-place-names are out-of-place. But the swordsman has a name now! And stuff! Tell me what you think; reviews are my favorite!


	6. Doubts

**Disclaimer**: I do not own _Naruto_, the Akatsuki, or any other character from the original series.

* * *

><p>"So you will leave in three days, find the swordsman, and apprehend him – <em>without<em> killing him, if you can avoid it. Now, is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Sakura nodded firmly, then paused as she thought of something. _I would think this mission would be a bit more urgent... _"But... why in three days? Can't we just heal... _him _and be on our way?"

Tsunade shook her head. "No; unfortunately, it's not that simple. There's something odd about the Akatsuki member's injuries. They seem to resist healing." Her eyes narrowed as she thought back to the two criminals' initial arrival in Konoha. "When he first came here, the blood from his lacerations had barely clotted at all. I almost thought I wouldn't be able to stabilize him in time.

"Over the next few days, you, certain other medic nin, and I will gradually heal his wounds. This is partly to ensure that no one medic uses up too much chakra healing him; after all, with this particular patient, whoever's healing him needs to be able to defend him or herself if the Akatsuki member attacks."

Sakura nodded again in understanding, and Kakashi spoke up.

"In that case, I believe it's about time we started preparing; any training that we can get in ahead of time would be good."

"Alright, go ahead, all of you," agreed Tsunade. "Except you, Sakura," she added as her apprentice started to leave.

Sakura blinked in surprise and turned to face the Hokage. "Yes, Tsunade-shishou?"

"I need you to do me a favor, Sakura," replied Tsunade.

"Yes, of course."

Tsunade glanced at the clock on the wall as she explained. "Unfortunately, duty calls; I have to get back to my office, pronto, and there aren't many people I'd trust to do this."

Sakura had just started to smile in anticipation of this special, high-priority mission when Tsunade actually told her what it was.

"I need you to bring some food to the Akatsuki members."

Sakura's face fell. "Oh. Uh... okay," she said, trying to mask her disappointment and disdain and failing.

Tsunade sighed and ran a hand through her pale blonde bangs. "Look, Sakura, I'm sorry, but even with one of them injured, these men are dangerous – that's why I need to make sure everyone attending to them can at least hold their own long enough to get help."

As much as she hated the very idea of this mission, Sakura had to admit that, as usual, her mentor's reasoning made sense. _Besides,_ she thought, _not many people know about these two being __here at all – it's the kind of news that has to be broken slowly._

And so, reluctantly, Sakura headed to the hospital cafeteria to retrieve two identical lunchboxes.

Now carrying a box in each hand, Sakura made her way through the halls of the hospital, weaving between the other people she occasionally encountered, and dreading her arrival at her destination.

As much as she hated it, the moment eventually came when she found herself outside the room she had been sent to. She took a deep breath and started to push the door open, thinking the whole time, _Please let the blonde one be asleep or something. I bet I could actually put up with the other one, as long as the blonde one is asleep, so please let the blonde one be asleep. Please-_

And so of course, when Sakura opened the door, the masked Akatsuki member was snoring from his chair, and the blonde one was sitting upright in bed, glancing impassively at her as she opened the door.

Sakura gritted her teeth and forced herself to remain polite. "Um... hello," she said, in what she hoped was a cheerful tone. "Tsunade-shishou asked me to... to bring this to you."

She set down the boxes carefully on a small table by the blonde criminal's hospital bed, stepping away quickly so as not to be near him. "When... uh... the other one wakes up, would you make sure he gets one?" This time she was sure that the strain of keeping this up was showing, especially with the injured Akatsuki member staring her down. "I'll just be going now-"

"Wait."

Sakura froze in front of the door, turning her head slightly to look at the criminal. His previously emotionless gaze had hardened, blue eyes fixed on her jade green ones.

"Don't think you're fooling anyone. I can see how you look at me, hm." He angled his head slightly, a derisive smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You hate me, don't you?"

Sakura tensed at his words, her eyes narrowing. She turned to face him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Maybe I do," she replied sharply. "But not without reason."

To her horror, the Akatsuki member laughed. "Oh, really, hm? And what reason would that be? Are you really just that sore over that Jinchuuriki's death?"

Sakura gritted her teeth as he continued. "Really, it's pretty impressive. I had thought that everybody hated Jinchuuriki, but that one had quite an array of shinobi trying to come to his rescue." He paused, his smirk widening at Sakura's expression. "Or is it because of the Kyuubi's host? Do you really care about him so much as to hate me over him? I don't see why you would-"

Deidara was cut off by Sakura's fist planting itself firmly in the wall beside his head. He stared at the spiderweb cracks branching out from the point of impact, doing his best to hide his shock.

Although he couldn't have known, this was a pretty weak punch for Sakura; she had purposefully held back, just wanting to scare him enough to maybe get him to shut up. For the moment, the action appeared to have done its job.

"You listen to me," Sakura hissed. "I don't give a crap that we're supposed to work together, if I think even for a moment that you may hurt Naruto, I _will not hesitate _to make sure that you can _never _try that again." She ground her fist against the wall, satisfied by the further extension of the cracks around it and by the way the Akatsuki member flinched in response. "_Do you understand me?_"

The criminal in front of her glared at her, blue eyes narrowing. "Perfectly," he spat. He sat in silence, waiting until she was standing upright again and turning to leave, before grinning and adding, "Of course, that's assuming you're _capable _of doing anything to me."

Sakura froze where she was for a moment, then, with a huff of exasperation, stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

For a couple of seconds, all was silent. Then a certain masked criminal – who was supposedly asleep – saw fit to speak up. "You shouldn't do that, Deidara-sempai. Especially right now, that girl really could-"

"Oh, shut up," snapped Deidara. He glanced again at the area of the wall cracked by the kunoichi's fist. Actually a fairly impressive threat, even if he would never admit it. "Besides, Tobi, if you're so concerned, why didn't you say anything, hm?"

Tobi laughed nervously, fiddling with the collar of his robe. "I figured you could handle it. And what would I have said, anyway?"

Deidara snorted and looked away from the damaged wall, staring instead at the white sheets in front of him. "I can't believe we actually have to _help _them, hm," he muttered. "If Leader-sama hadn't told us not to, it would be so easy to just take the Jinchuuriki and go... and it's not like anyone could stop us. Especially not that little girl." Even as he said it, his mind turned again to the cracks beside his head – and then to the very incident a few weeks ago that had stuck him with this orange-masked idiot... However unbelievable it may be, that "little girl" had killed _Sasori._

Deidara shook his head, as if dislodging the thought from his mind. _That didn't count; she was working with that old hag. _But even so, there was something unusual about her...

* * *

><p>Naruto scuffed at the ground impatiently with one foot, his gaze flicking between the forest outside Konoha and the dirt road inside. "What's taking so long?" he demanded, turning to Sakura.<p>

The pink-haired kunoichi shrugged, checking her supplies to make absolutely sure she was ready to go. "You know Kakashi-sensei; he's always late. And those Akatsuki members are probably doing this on purpose."

"Or they've run away and aren't planning to help us at all," Sai added. Despite his words, his expression suggested he really didn't care either way. "It wouldn't be surprising."

Yamato sighed, rubbing at his forehead. _This won't be easy at all, will it. _Before he could respond to Sai's comment, a regrettably familiar voice piped up from behind them.

"What, you're already making assumptions about us, hm? _That _didn't take long."

The two criminals strolled calmly down the street, fully dressed in their black-and-red Akatsuki robes. Around them, civilians stared, and passing ninja glared distrustfully at them, many scoffing and turning away.

In the past few days, Tsunade, in order to prevent panic when the Akatsuki members appeared in the open, had made sure that everybody knew of their presence in Konoha. However, even if they knew, many ninja were extremely... _displeased _with the situation.

The two men came to a stop in front of the rest of the group, the blonde smirking, his arms crossed, and the masked one shuffling about impatiently, ready to sprint through the gate at a moment's notice.

"So, I guess that just leaves Kakashi-sempai," Yamato announced, relief evident in his voice. With most of the team at the gate already, they were almost ready to go.

"Hmph. I just hope he doesn't take too long about it," snorted the blonde Akatsuki member. "The sooner we can get out of here, the better."

Sakura, with her arms crossed, tightened her grip a bit and shot a sharp glare at the criminal (which he either didn't notice or didn't care about). Then, her irritation suddenly replaced with apprehension, her gaze landed on the slight bulges caused in the man's robe by the pouches of clay on either side of his belt. Sakura had seen a bit of what that clay could do herself, as well as being told about it by Kakashi and Naruto. For some _odd_ reason, the idea of giving a dangerous criminal access to his greatest weapon – within Konoha itself, no less – did not sit well with Sakura.

The criminal noticed her suspicious expression and rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Pinkie," he said, in a manner similar to how one would reassure a child afraid of monsters under their bed. "As long as I'm working with you sorry excuses for shinobi, I'm not allowed to hurt any of you, hm." He glanced at Naruto and smirked slightly. "Not even the Jinchuuriki brat – for now, anyway."

Naruto started to lunge at the still-smirking missing-nin. "I'd like to see you try, you-"

Yamato started to move to grab him, Sai close behind. Whether Sakura would even bother holding her teammate back would never be clear, as, at that moment, there was a puff of smoke a few feet away, quickly clearing to reveal Kakashi.

The jonin raised an eyebrow and looked over the scene before him – Yamato and Sai holding tightly onto Naruto's arms, the blonde Akatsuki member starting to reach for the clay at his sides (despite his explicit orders not to harm the Konoha ninja), his masked companion starting to stumble away from the impending fight, and Sakura glaring at the blonde as if considering whether to just pound him then, or let Naruto have his turn first.

Kakashi sighed and scratched his head. _What am I going to do with these guys... _"Okay, everybody, calm down for a moment."

Naruto finally stopped trying to break free of his teammates' grip and turned to face his teacher, barely-suppressed fury still evident in his expression. The other ninja did the same, although traces of anger and uncertainty remained on every face.

"Where were you, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto demanded, seemingly even more annoyed than usual at his teacher's habitual tardiness.

"I'll explain that later," Kakashi replied, already forming an excuse in his mind. (Really, he had just been reading and had lost track of time.) "Right now, we have a bigger problem."

He first turned to Naruto. "Naruto, I know that this is not an ideal situation for anybody. However, I expect you to at least try and get along with these two, at least for this mission."

Not waiting for a response, he now faced the blonde rogue ninja. "As for you," he stated calmly, a hint of a threat in his voice, "I don't know what exactly happened just now. I may never know. But I can't help finding it rather likely that you were the cause." He stepped closer, and the criminal faced him, not flinching, but with the slightest hint of worry in his eyes. "Let me make this clear: Alliance or not, if you hurt my students, you _will _regret it."

He turned toward the gates, glancing at the rest of his team. "I'm guessing everyone's ready. Yamato, Sai, thanks for stopping Naruto. Now, let's go."

Naruto grinned, the excitement of starting a mission mostly overtaking his previous anger. "Yeah! Whoever that guy is, we'll show him who's boss!" He immediately ran ahead, forcing the others to speed up in order to avoid losing him.

"Let's go, sempai!" cheered Tobi, trying to grab his partner's sleeve. The shorter man shook him off with a glare, and Tobi, unfazed, bounded out the gates.

Eventually, Sakura, much to her displeasure, ended up in the back of the group, with who she had now definitively dubbed the less trustworthy of the two criminals.

Leaping through the trees, the man glanced at her, then smirked slightly.

Sakura's eyebrows drew together slightly. "What do you want?" she snapped.

The criminal just turned away, grinning. "'If you hurt my students, you'll regret it'... You said something similar, didn't you?" He raised an eyebrow and turned back to Sakura. "Heh... you Konoha shinobi really are too soft-hearted, huh, Pinkie?"

Sakura's lip curled, and she turned her eyes to the trees ahead, putting on an extra burst of speed. _And you Akatsuki really are monsters. _"My name is Sakura," she informed him coldly. "Try to remember it, would you?"

The Akatsuki member laughed. "Some comeback that was."

After a moment of silence as both concentrated on catching up to the group, he added, "By the way, I'm Deidara. Try to remember it, would you?"

Sakura just rolled her eyes and pulled ahead.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Whoo, this one was longer than usual. Nearly five and a half pages.

Anyway, a great big huge thanks to everyone who reviewed! That is what reminds me to keep writing and not just forget I ever started this thing! (I have that problem sometimes.)

And here is where something that almost kind of resembles DeiSaku if you turn your head right starts to appear! And now they know each other's names. Which means I can lay off the descriptors and pronouns already. YAY!

I mostly like this chapter, although Kakashi's lines toward the end make me a bit nervous. If they seem kind of OOC, please let me know, and I'll do my best to avoid doing that again.

Now, please read and review, or else Deidara may start trolling people who can kill him(again)!


	7. Keeping Watch

**A/N: HEY YOU GUYZ**

**Sorry for the wait, but A New Threat is back, with all-new... something. Anyway, yes. As usual, feel free to give any advice or suggestions you may have, flamers will be promptly ignored, and I don't own any of these characters.**

* * *

><p>Deidara scanned the ground below the trees, watching carefully for any familiar terrain. Suddenly, he came to an abrupt halt on a branch. Behind him, the three younger ninja, having moved to the back on Kakashi's orders to ensure that the Akatsuki members didn't try to escape, grabbed onto the branches they were on to prevent crashing into him.<p>

"Hey, what's the hold up?" Naruto called irritably.

Deidara ignored him. "This is it!" he called ahead, causing Kakashi, Yamato, and Tobi (who had been yammering nonstop in Yamato's ear for the past ten minutes) to come to equally abrupt stops.

The seven shinobi dropped to the ground and walked out onto the dirt road. Scorches on the ground and a few gashes in the surrounding trees caught Deidara's eye, confirming it. It seemed that, over the past few days, nothing much had happened to erase the signs of the battle. "This is the place," he repeated, turning to the Konoha shinobi.

Kakashi knelt down by one of the scorched areas, carefully picking up a scrap of green fabric from the road, and lifting it to his face.

Deidara watched silently, raising one eyebrow. _Is he... _sniffing _it? _He shook his head, leaning back against a nearby tree. _These Konoha people just keep getting weirder._

"Deidara-san, can you remember which direction the swordsman took when he left?" Kakashi asked as he stood up, surveying the surrounding area. "I think the trail leads northwest, but I want to be sure; after all, it has been nearly four days."

Deidara thought for a moment, recalling the final moments of the battle. "Yeah," he confirmed. "It looks like you got that one right, at least, hm."

Kakashi nodded, ignoring the insult implied in the missing-nin's words. "Good. We'll head that way immediately."

"Right now?" Deidara turned in the direction of the pink-haired gir- _Sakura's _voice. _What's her problem now? _he wondered.

"I mean, I'm not complaining," she said quickly, upon noticing the others' glances at her. "I'm just saying, we just stopped a moment ago, so why not rest here for a couple of minutes?"

"Oh, come on, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, clearly already poised to leap back to the trees at the earliest oppurtunity. It seemed that none of his enthusiasm at the beginning of the mission had waned, even with the Akatsuki members' presence. "We can't stop now! Don't you want to find this guy?"

Sakura sighed. "Alright, fine," she replied. "Let's go then."

Within moments, the shinobi were off again, back in their starting formation. Deidara stole a glance at the girl beside him, looking away when she noticed this.

"What?" she demanded.

Deidara snorted, staring ahead. Clearly, this kunoichi had come to always expect the worst from him. "I didn't say anything, hm," he replied.

"But you were looking at me. What was that about?"

Deidara grinned wryly. "Maybe I'm just fascinated by your beauty."

Sakura looked somewhat alarmed by this response for a moment, a slight blush creeping onto her face. Then she reverted back to the glare she typically displayed when Deidara was around. "Very funny," she snapped. "Try again."

Deidara chuckled under his breath and turned away. "Really, I was just wondering why you would object so much to continuing on our way. Do you actually get tired that easily?"

"Actually, I just think we're going about this too hastily."

Deidara blinked and turned to face her again. "What do you mean by that?"

Sakura continued to stare straight ahead as she answered. "We know that this guy is dangerous, and for all we know, he could have allies with him. So why are we jumping in so eagerly? It doesn't seem right to me."

Deidara shrugged as he pushed off from another branch. "I would guess your captain is planning to decide what to do once we start to catch up to him. If you have a problem, then why don't you take it up with him?"

Sakura shot him another one of those glares that she seemed to use on him so often. "Because. I respect Kakashi-sensei; I think that whatever he wants to do is probably best. Not that _you _would know anything about respect," she added.

"Maybe I don't need to," Deidara replied. He paused in thought, then added, "And if you like thinking things out so much, why did you just attack me like that back at the hospital, hm?"

Sakura flinched, her jaw clenching at the memory. Suddenly, she seemed to have been further reminded of who she was talking to here. "Because that was a special case," she snapped.

Deidara raised one eyebrow.

"I... It was just the heat of the moment, okay?"

A hint of his usual smirk began to creep its way back onto his face.

Finally, Sakura came to a halt on a thick tree limb. Deidara, alarmed, stopped just ahead of her, watching her uncertainly.

"You went too far, _that's _what happened. You pissed me off. Now shut up and leave me alone!"

"Hey, Sakura! What's going on back there?" Kakashi called from up ahead. The other shinobi had paused, noticing that the two in back had fallen behind.

Sakura took a deep breath, then called ahead, "It's nothing, Kakashi-sensei! Just thought I saw something. It was nothing, though."

The team captain nodded. "Then come on. We need to get as far as we can before sunset."

"Right!" Sakura pushed off again, shooting a glare at Deidara as she went by.

He snorted and followed after her. "Well, Sakura-san... you're just full of surprises, aren't you."

The seven ninja made good time after that, and they finally decided to stop for the night. But of course, it couldn't be that simple.

"Okay, everyone, I need to make something very clear," Kakashi announced. "From here on out, it's going to be dangerous – and not just from the chance of encountering our target, either, although we're close enough now that that is a distinct possibility."

"This area is known for the commonness of attacks by bandits on travelers," Yamato explained. "And _not _just any random civilians, either," he clarified, interrupting the beginnings of a comment from Naruto. "These are rogue shinobi; not on the Akatsuki's level, by any means, but still potentially dangerous." As he spoke, he narrowly avoided glancing at Deidara and Tobi when the Akatsuki were brought up. Naruto, Sakura, and Sai, however, did not.

"So, with this in mind, we will have two people on watch per shift tonight. Kakashi-sempai, you've got the teams worked out, right?"

Kakashi nodded. "Deidara-san and I will take the first shift. Naruto and Sai will go after us, and then Yamato and Tobi-san. Sakura, you've got the night off."

Deidara looked on in silence. Although it wasn't clearly stated, the Konoha shinobis' distrust of the two Akatsuki members was definitely influencing their decisions – keeping watch in pairs so the Akatsuki couldn't try anything, and ensuring that the Akatsuki were paired with the most experienced shinobi.

Deidara glanced at Sakura, guessing from the look in her eyes that she, too, knew perfectly well what was going unsaid here. _Smarter than she looks. _A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, but he quickly hid it.

The shinobi began to set up camp for the night, setting out sleeping bags and building a small campfire. By the time the sun had set, they were ready for everyone but Deidara and Kakashi to go to sleep.

Deidara no longer needed to see the suspicious glances the others sent his way, and simply looked away from them, leaning against a tree. Kakashi stood a few feet away, half his attention focused on the potentially dangerous forest surrounding them, the other half on his temporary ally.

Deidara pretended to ignore the jonin's distrust, secretly enjoying the Konoha ninja's flinch when Deidara pulled a piece of clay from his bag, twisting it between his fingers, molding it into random shapes – a bird, then a butterfly, then a spider, one after the other.

As he sculpted absentmindedly, only half-focused on the clay in his hands, he considered the events of the past few days, putting together a quick analysis of his "teammates".

Naruto and Kakashi, he already knew about. The former was, as he had guessed at their first meeting, an idiot. He was too hot-headed, too impatient, and too confident. Completely ridiculous.

The latter was more dangerous. He could be cunning, and he had power, that was for sure. Deidara would need to be careful of him, when the inevitable moment came when he would break away from these buffoons and take the Jinchuuriki.

Yamato could potentially be a threat as well, although not so much as Kakashi. He would need to be watched.

Sai was... odd. There was something off about him. Deidara couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the kid always seemed to act as if he had never experienced any real human socialization until a few weeks ago.

And then there was Sakura. She was a strange one, that was for sure. She tried to act so calm all the time, acting like she was in perfect control of the situation, but when things went wrong, she just snapped. It was amazing, in a way, the way she could – and did – go, in an instant, from polite and collected to... to something else entirely. And yet this girl, this tiny, eggheaded, fake-calm kunoichi, had helped to defeat Sasori, of all people.

At that moment, Deidara remembered the incident in the hosptital – the network of cracks spreading from her fist. It shouldn't have been possible. Maybe there was more to this girl than he had seen.

The first shift passed without incident, and in a few hours, Kakashi woke Naruto and Sai. With a final glance at Deidara, he slipped into his sleeping bag and closed his one visible eye.

Deidara spread out his cloak on the ground, ignoring Naruto's suspicious stares, and lay down, still considering each of the Konoha shinobi.


End file.
